In Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, existing solutions generally rely on agreed Information Elements (IE's) in the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (3GPP TS 25.331 V11.5.0) to activate or deactivate RN functionality. While this methodology may be suitable for a large segment of radio network (RN) functionality, there is consequently also a need to handle proprietary or functionality that may not be of interest to all parties involved in 3GPP standardization.
Existing solutions to activate or deactivate RN functionality generally utilize 3GPP standardized signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling), which means that activation and deactivation of any new RN functionality needs to be agreed upon in the 3GPP standardization. However, since some RN functionality may either be proprietary or not of interest to all parties using 3GPP standards, there is a need for an alternative way to achieve this functionality. Consequently, an efficient way to activate or deactivate RN functionality without changing existing 3GPP standardization is currently missing.